What's perhaps even worse is that Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said on the earnings call that daily active users are in the high 40% of monthly active users, which is flat with where it was pre-IPO. Facebook's daily active users are 63% of monthly active users.

This ratio is particularly bad for Twitter, because Costolo defined Twitter's mission repeatedly on the call as being "the best companion experience to what's happening in [the] world." But if fewer than half of Twitter's users are using it daily, then clearly it's not the best companion for their life.

Another problem: Timeline views per monthly active unique user are down on a year-over-year percentage. On the call, Costolo attributed this to changes in Twitter's design. Instead of having to sort through the timeline to figure out a conversation, Twitter streamlined the process, putting it all in one thread. That cuts down on timeline views but delivers a better experience. Costolo says retweets and favorites are up 26%, a sign that engagement remains strong.Twitter

Now, amid all the doom and gloom, there is a way to look at Twitter positively, if you want.

On the call, Costolo said that Twitter is a mainstream service. "We had 3.3 billion views of tweets just about the Oscars in the 48 hours after the Oscars." He didn't cite where the number came from, but those views were across media platforms like newspapers, magazines, TV, and websites.

Twitter, as a service, is clearly well known and mainstream.

Despite the lower-than-expected user growth, Twitter beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. This shows that Twitter has a solid business that can continue to grow, even if user growth isn't off the charts.